India in 1997: Major events and happenings

Best and the worst moments of year 1997 in Indian history

Order. It is, Alexander Pope said, heaven's first law. We seek order endlessly. Where it is not obvious, we try to create it, carving out a path.

Unfortunately for India, it was a year of fading paths, overrun by a chaotic political and economic wilderness. It wasn't supposed to be this way. It was supposed to be a year when India celebrated. Instead, in the golden jubilee of its freedom, India was put on hold.

The shenanigans of fractious politicians were enough to put one off. Then, India Inc faltered badly, plunging into disorder in an economy littered with the unfinished bridges of economic reform. Even in cricket, it was a year of defeats and scandal, ending with the axing of half the team. Tragic.

Ranking of best colleges of India

Story of the year June 23

India's First College Rankings

Best Colleges of India: What makes a good college? Obviously, the quality of education it offers. But trying to grade quality is about as easy as particle physics. As colleges prepare to take in a fresh batch, INDIA TODAY decided to help identify centres of excellence and make one of the first attempts to rank the country's top 10 colleges. - Vijay Jung Thapa

Did you Know?

That the Indian tricolour was hoisted at the North Pole for the first time this year. On April 21, Squadron Leader Sanjay Thapar, holder of many national and international records in para jumping and skydiving, jumped from an altitude of 10,000 ft and planted the tiranga at the pole.

Arundhati Roy

High pointBooker comes home

Silent and haunted Ayemenem is an unlikely starting point for a world-conquering journey ... a sedate backdrop that is far removed from the tumultuous happenings of successful modern novels. It is out of this tranquility that Arundhati Roy created a universal story of love and tragedy that won her the prestigious Booker Prize in London last week, the first Indian to do so.

The Booker for an Indian village love story? Till recently, such an outrageous suggestion would have been dismissed as a commendable piece of fiction. Now it is too true to be fiction. It is also too true to be an Indian fairy tale. From the moment the manuscript of Roy's 340-page debut novel The God of Small Things was bought by Flamingo (a division of publishing giant HarperCollins) for Rs 3.5 crore, there was the bristle of eternity around the book.

From the middle of last year, when literary agent David Godwin landed up in the barsati Roy and her husband, Pradip Krishen, inhabit in Delhi's Chanakyapuri, there was the sweet tinkle of cash too. Roy's tally till date: approximately Rs 5 crore. How about that? - Binoo K. John, October 27

Mother Teresa passes away

Low Point

Mother Teresa Dies

Till almost the end of this past week, as Mother Teresa lay in state enclosed in a glass case for days, the city which loves a display, any display, mostly kept away. Princess Diana simply overshadowed her. The world isn't big enough a place to grieve for two high-profile people at the same time. People need to catch their breath and the media needs time to plan coverage to feed the people, so could you please make sure that there's a decent interval between the time we bury one and start to mourn another, thank you very much?

The Mother's funeral would have to be postponed-it gave people time to raise the pitch of mourning, dignitaries to allocate time to pay their respects, and the world-at least the section of it that wasn't still hung over from Diana's death-to tune in. Increasingly, that news-not news as a killer, but news as necessity-has to be delivered; perceived goodness of character has nothing to do with it.

At any other time, Mother Teresa would have made the cover of top international magazines. Though there were more power-people gathered to pay tribute to her last week, it was not enough to merit extensive coverage, a surefire recipe for media overkill in normal times. These days, this is normal for us. - Sudeep Chakravarti, September 22

Laila Rouass

Oomph

LAILA ROUASSHis first film was called Raakh (ashes). Going by his stunning leading lady, the next one should be Aag (fire). Aditya Bhattacharya, maverick filmmaker, performs the enchanting task of launching Rouass in films. The oh-so-sexy veejay makes her acting debut in Senso Unico, an Anglo-Italian film about a Pakistani girl in Italy. "I had a great time working on it," coos Laila.- Eyecatchers, November 17

Renuka Chowdhary

OopsRENUKA CHOWDHARYFor I.K. Gujral, the external affairs minister, it was an anxious wait on the day the UF Committee was deliberating on its next leader. When the name was flashed, the crowd with Gujral shouted with joy. And while many pumped his hand, Renuka Chowdhary planted a big smack on his cheek. But she soon realised that the wishful kiss had gone amiss in the Cabinet list.- Newsnotes, May 15

FIGURE IT OUT

The year that saw unprecedented deaths. As many as 20,000 fires took 349lives, 308 bomb blasts killed 197 people and injured 1,100, and 1,408 caste and communal clashes injured 3,700.FLAKY REJOINDER

I don't believe I need big names to sell my films because I make movies and not propositions. Actor-turned-filmmaker Dev Anand

OUCH!

Peanuts can get only monkeys. Abid Hussain on the paltry salaries given to Indian scientists.

Jagmohan Dalmiya on being elected head of ICC

Jagmohan Dalmiya

"You have to sell the sport if it has to survive and prosper."

Vengeance can be fun. Close to 400 years ago, the East India Company arrived in India to teach the natives the tricks of the trade. Now the colony has struck back. In the 50th year of Independence, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the new boss of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has arrived at Lord's to teach them how to run cricket. The Empire is having a coronary.

To the men of Lord's, a world where England has always determined what constitutes cricket, this man must be heresy come visiting. His hair looks like it has been hit by an oil slick and he's referred to not as 'Lord This' or 'Sir That', but as Jagguda. His defining moment, his deification within the subcontinent, would happen in 1993 with his struggle with the western-dominated establishment over the right to host the 1996 World Cup.

Myths would rise from following meetings.How Dalmiya stood up and said, "When I was young I was told Britannia rules the waves, but now it seems that Britannia waives the rules."The Cup was won.Three years later, Dalmiya was seeking control of the very establishment he had challenged. - Rohit Brijnath, July 7

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